Spaced forwarding device for cut wire

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a spaced forwarding device for cut wires which can automatically forward with specified spacing cut pieces of a long small-diameter wire one by one to the working stage. More specifically it relates to a forwarding device for cut wires which can forward cut pieces one by one in an orderly fashion as required for the working stage, even if the timing for cutting is not coordinated with the timing for forwarding to the working stage. The improved spaced forwarding device for cut wires according to the present invention comprises a chain equipped on the periphery with a plurality of wire-holding bosses at a specified interval and at least three sprocket wheels; and an inclined plate for forwarding the cut wires. The rotating path of the chain contains an inclined part following said inclined plate and a vertical part. A weight is hung from a shaft on a fourth wheel located in higher position along the inclined part of the path, another weight is hung from a shaft on a wheel located below the vertical part of the path, in such manner that the highest and lowest wheels can be intermittently rotated and said first and fourth wheels can be shiftable along said inclined plate. The lower weight is greater than the highest weight. By dependently or independently rotating said wheels intermittently, the cut wires are arrested by the wire-holding bosses one by one and thus they can be forwarded in spaced relationship.

United States Patent [191 Sato et al.

[ SPACED FORWARDING DEVICE FOR CUT WIRE [75] Inventors: Hiroki Sato; Norimitsu Yoshida,

both of Chigasaki, Japan [73] Assignee: Neturen Company Ltd., Tokyo,

Japan [22] Filed: Apr. 26, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 354,912

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 26, 1972 Japan .L 47-4l274 [52] US. Cl 72/422,' 83/155, 140/1 [51] Int. Cl B2lf 23/00 [58] Field of Search 140/1, 2-,83/155, 155.1; 72/422; 198/110, 116, 135

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 946,584 1/1910 Smith 7,2/422 2,244,817 6/1941 Wilcox 7 2,999,527 9/1961 Klavon, Jr 72/422 Primary Examiner-Lowell A. Larson Attorney, Agent, or FirmArmstrong, Nikaido & Wegner 57 ABSTRACT The present invention relates to a spaced forwarding [451. Dec. 17, 1974 7 device for cut wires which can automatically forward with specified spacing cut pieces of a long smalldiameter wire one by one to the working stage. More specifically it relates to a forwarding device for cut wires which can forward cut pieces one by one in an orderly fashion as required for the working stage, even if the timing'for cutting is not coordinated with the timing for forwarding to the working stage.

The improved spaced forwarding device for out wires according to the present invention comprises a chain equipped on the periphery with a plurality of wire-holding bosses at a specified interval and at least three sprocket wheels; and an inclined plate for forwarding the cut wires. The rotating path of the chain contains an inclined part following said inclined plate and a vertical part.

A weight is hung from a-shaft on a fourth wheel located in higher position along the inclined part of the path, another weight is hung from a shaft on a wheel located below the vertical part of the path, in such manner that the highest and lowest wheels can be intermittently rotated and said first and fourth wheels can be shiftable along said inclined plate. The lower weight is greater than the highest weight. By dependently or independently rotating said wheels intermittently, the cut-wires are arrested by the wire-holding'bosses one by one and thus they can be forwarded in spaced relationship.

' 7 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures was 1 71914 PATENT SHEET 2 OF 7 mom Non mom wOm MOM mom 3v. mom 9m 20 PATENTEL 1 7 4 SHEET 30F 7 PATENTEU BIC I 71974 SHEET 6 OF 7 FIG.5

5 4 3 2 l 4 4 4 4 4 4 h w H J? V 8 7. e Mm Mw wamfi. M4 6 3 O 3 n 4 a u 9 8 7+ L E u w T m m. ,u u 1% AM "4 i 3 w n 6 T- 4 3 aw 3 w 39 m m n w m A v1 4 w PATENTEU 553 Y 7 74 sum 70F 7 1 SPACED' FORWARDING DEVICE FOR cur WIRE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, cut wires can be sent one by one to the working stage in accordance with the requirements of the working stage, evenif the timing for cutting wires is not related to the timing for forwarding them. For sending in succession automatically one by one, cut wires, for example pieces of a steel wire which have been'cut to a specified length by a shearing machine to the working stage, the following forwarding method is known in the prior art. Namely, cut wires are collected in something like a concave sheet; when they accumulate to certain quantities in said sheet, one end of said sheet is pulled to displace the wires thereon upward; and the wires in the upper layer are one by one picked'up by a stopper, to be carried away on a belt conveyer.

This conventional method is applicable with no great difficulty for automatically carrying cut wires one by one when they are cut relatively. short. However, when wires of, say, 4mm-30mm in diameter are cut longer than 3-l0mm, they get entangled after being cut and it becomes difficult to forward them one by one automatically. Therefore, under these circumstances, they have to be manually dissentangled and sent one by one to the working stage. Even if it were made possible by some means to avoid their entanglement and send them one by one automatically, the conventional method would still be ineffective for automatic spaced forward ing of cut wires, when the timing for cutting does not coincide with the timing for sending to the working stage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of such disadvantages of the conventional method for automatic forwarding of wires, the object of the present invention is to provide a spaced forwarding device for wires which can smoothly forward long pieces of small diameter wires one by one automatically without entanglement and meet the requirements for the working stage, even when the timing for cutting the wires does not correspond with the timing for sending them. r

The spaced forwarding device of the inventioncomprises a chain equipped on the periphery with a plural.- ity of wire-arresting bosses at specified intervals and at least first, second, and third sprocket wheels; and an inclined plate for forwarding the wires. The rotating path of said chain contains an inclined part following said inclined plate and a vertical portion. A weight W is hung from a shaft for a fourth sprocket wheel located in higher position along said inclined part of path than the second sprocket wheel or from a truck end, while a weight W is hung from a shaft for the third sprocket wheel located belowsaid vertical part of the path, in such a manner that the three wheels can be intermittently rotatable and the second and fourth said wheels, can be shiftable along said inclined plate. Said weights are set in'the relation of W W By dependently or independently rotating said first and second wheels intermittently, cut wires can be successively engaged by the wire-arresting bosses for spaced forwarding. Preferably, said second wheel is mounted on a truck 33 which is movable along guide rails laid with the same inclination angle as said inclined plate; the relation of said two weights is so set as to be W W p. Qcos QSinO (p. is the frictional coefficient and Q is the weight of the truck and its load). Upon truck 33 is installed a mechanism which, acting upon order from the wire-cutting part, halts the rotation of said second wheel or causes its rotation by a specified number of degress. Preferably, interconnected with the rotation of said second wheels, one end of said scissors being fixed to the truck and'the other end fixed close to the position of the first I wheel; thereby the movement of .the chaintogether with the rotation of said first and second wheels is made smooth. .More than two-sets of such a spaced forwarding device for wire are preferably to be disposed in parallel said rotatable wheels all being fitted on the same shaft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the drawings, wherein;

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view illustrating a working 7 stage to which the present invention is applicable.

FIG. 2(a) to FIG. 6 illustrate the operation of the present invention, FIG. 2(a) being a side view showing cut wires being forwarded at specified intervals.

FIG. 2(b) is a plan view of the same (cut wires not.

shown) as in FIG. 2(a).

FIG. 3(a) shows a cross-section at 3a3a of the same as in FIG. 2(b).

FIG. 3(b) is a side view of the same as in FIG. 3(a).

FIG. 3(0) is a detailed longitudinal section view of the clutch mechanism36 in FIG. 3(b).

FIG. 3(d) is a plan view of the rotatable wheel consituting the clutch mechanism in FIG. 3(0).

FIG. 3(e) is a plan view of a wheel to be coupled with said rotatable wheel. 1

FIGS. 30') and 3(g) are respectively side views explaining the working relationshipbetween said rotatable wheel in FIG. 3(d) and said wheel in FIG. 3(e).

FIG. 4(a) is a partial plan view of the chain to be used in the present invention,

FIG. 4(b) is a front view of the chain in FIG. 4(a). FIG. 5 is a plan view of a plurality of mechanisms of FIG. 2(a) being arranged in parallel. 7

FIG. 6' is a side view explaining the wire-forwarding relationship between the device of the present invention and the machining part.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 6, the present invention can be described as follows:

In FIG. 1, which shows a layout under which the .present invention is applied, 1 is the cutting part where a wire 4 (for instance steel wire) of small diameter unwound from the coil 4 is successively cut to a specified I length by shear 5 of the prior art. Wire pieces cut in this 3 gases- 1w invention aims at the improvement of, the forwarding device 2 in FIG. 1.

The specific operation of the present invention is to be described referring to FIG. 2(a) to FIG. 6.

In FIG. 2(a) to FIG. 6 30 denotes chains ofidentical structure arranged in parallel at specified intervals. The chain 30 should be one known in the prior art, such as illustrated in FIGS. 4(a), 4(b) or one conforming to the International Standard R S 40. In FIGS. 4(a), 4(b), roller plates 30c, (30d) are arranged in parallel with predetermined spacing. At the two outside ends of said plates 30c (-l-d) are located both ends of the pin link plates 30a, 30b which are equipped with wire-arresting bosses. Both ends of said plates 30c (30d) and pin link plates 30a, 30b are-fitted such that said plates 30a, 30c; 30c, 30b and plates 30b, 30d are mutually able to bend or move via the pin 30f 30f and around the periphery of the pin 30f-30j between plates 30 (30d), rollers 30s are disposed. Viewed sideways,;the roller chain 30 as seen from FIG. 2(a), comprises an inclined part 30 A having a certain pre-determined angle and a vertical part 30 B. In the inclined part 30A, the inside surface of the end corresponding to the high position at the left extreme in FIG-2(a), follows a part of the outside of the sprockets 13a, 13b disposed in parallel at specified intervals, while the inside surface of the end corresponding to the low position at the extreme right in FIG. 2(a), follows a part of the outside of the sprockets 6a, 6b disposed parallel at specified intervals. The sprockets 13a, 13b are of the same diameter and are pivoted to the shaft 14, and these sprockets 13a, 13b are driven by shaft 14 to rotate in the same direction at the same velocity. Likewise, the sprockets 6a, 6b are of the same diameter and are pivoted to the same shaft 7; and these sprockets 6a, 6b driven by shaft 7 to rotate in the same direction at the same velocity. Chain limit switch Ls and the corresponding switch dog; and when the next switch dog comes to be contacted, the

- power supply to drive shaft 10 is cut off and in consequence the wheel 9 has turned by an angle of .6. T urning of said wheel 9 is transmitted via the chain 13 to the wheel 8, thereby causing drive shaft 7 to cease rotation and wheels 6a, 6b to turn in the specified direction. As shown in FIG. 3(a) the drive shaft 14 between the sprocket 13a and 13b have sprockets wheels 15a, 15b pivoted thereto. The sprocket wheel 15a, 15b pivoted to the shaft 14 between said sprocket 15a and 15b is in- I terlocked via the chain 161a, l61b with the sprocket wheel 17a, 17b pivoted to the shaft 16. At the specified position of the shaft 16 there is pivoted a clutch mecha- 4 nism 36. The clutch 36 to be used here is one known rotatable round body 36a and said non-rotatable round body 36b are of the same diameter. Concaves 363, 364, 1

365,366 are formed at specified intervals on the specified periphery of said rotatable round body 36a, while 30 is bent nearly perpendicularly 'at the sprockets 6a,

6b to said vertical part 30B. The bottom inside of said vertical part 30B follows the outside of the sprockets 27a, 27b. The sprockets 27a, 27b are of the same diameter and oppose each other at a specified distance, both being pivoted to the shaft 28. These sprockets 27a, 27b, are driven by shaft 28 to rotate in the same'direction at the same velocity. The shafts7, 28 respectively for the sprockets 6a, 6b and 27a, 27b are situated in the same vertical plane. It is desirable that the sprockets 6a, 6b and 13a, 13b be of the same diameter. Between the sprockets 27a and 13a and between the sprockets 27b and 13b there are idle sprockets 26a, 26b opposing each other at a specified distance. The periphery of the 4 chain 30 is designed to run along the peripheries of the idle sprockets 26a, 26b respectively. A weight W is hung via a wire 32 from shaft 19 of the sprockets 18a, 18b in such manner that the shaft 19 and the sprockets 18a, 18b are rotatable. A sprocket wheel 8 is fitted with its center fixed to the shaft portion 7 between the sprockets 6a and 6b; and the periphery of sprocket wheel 8 is connected via a chain 30 to the periphery of a sprocket wheel 9 of the same diameter. A rotatable wheel 11 is pivoted to the drive shaft 10 for sprocket wheel 9, there are positioned, separated by a specified distance, a limit switch Ls and switch dog 12 that can be contacted by the former. Drive shaft 10 is moved upon a signal instruction from the working stage 3. Ro-' convexes 363-366 are formed on said round body 36b at respective positions permitting them to fit into said concaves 363-366. Thus, when the surface of said movable round body 36a and said round body 36b are made to overlap each other, that is when, for instance, the concave 363 meets the convex 363' at the same time,364 goes into 364', 365 into 365' and 366 into 366'. As shown in FIGS. 3(a), (b), (c), rotatable body 36a and the sprocket wheels 17a, 17b being pivoted to the same shaft 16 respectively, the rotatable body 36a is interlocked with the sprocket wheels 13a, 13b via the shaft 16, the sprocket wheels 17a, 17b, chain 161a, 161b, sprocket 15a, 15b and the shaft 14. Meanwhile the round body 36 is so fitted as to be independent of the rotation of the shaft 16; that is, the shaft 16 is disposed through the hollow center 367 of the round body 36b. The part along the periphery of the round body 36b are notched 36R as shown in FIG. 3(c); and the coil 361 are arranged along said notches 36R. Thereby it is so arranged that upon an instruction signal from the cutting part 1 the current flows to these coils 361 and in consequence the round body 36b is attracted in the direction of the arrow. When an off signal is given, round body 36b displaces itself by the force of the spring 362 in the direction reverse to the arrow. Thus, when upon the signal from the cutting part 1, power is supplied to the coil 361 in the overlapped state of the rotatable round body 36a and the round body 36b, as illustrated in FIG. 30), with 363' fitting into 363; 364' to 364; 365' into 365; and 366' into 366, the

round body 36b is displaced in the arrow direction in- FIG. 3(c) and then rotable round body 36a will be disengaged from the round body 36b and become free to rotate. Thus, if it is so arranged that upon the instruction signal from the cutting part 1, coil 361 areenergized and at the same time the shaft 14 of the sprockets 13a, 13b is turned in the specified direction and if the energization of said coil 361 is so set that said coil may be deenergized after t seconds of energization. and the shaft 14 may be deenergized after t +d seconds of energization using for instance a conventional electrical timer or the like, then upon the instruction signal from cutting part 1, rotatable round body 36a will rotate as a result of being driven via the sprocket wheel 15a,

b; 17a 17b and the shaft 16, and t seconds thereafter round body 36b will receive the restoring force of the spring 362. Thus, with 363 going into 366, 364' into 363, 365' into 364 and 366' into 365, rotatable round body 36a can be halted. Thereby if the diameter of the rotatable body 36a and the spacing of concaves are set as specified, it will be possible to turn the sprockets 13a, 13b by an angle of 0.

At a specified distance from the sprocket wheels, 13a, 13b in the direction of the cutting part 1 along the slope of the inclined plate 34 there are installed sprocket wheels 18a, 18b which are pivoted to shaft 19 and to said shaft 19, rotatable bodies 201a, 20lb are pivoted in parallel at a specified distance, said bodies 201a, 20lb being equipped on their periphery with wire-arresting bosses 20-23. Sprocket 18a and 18b are so constructed as to be able to interlock via the chain 24 with the sprocket wheel 15a, 15b. Wire-arresting bosses 20-23 areso constructed that as the rotatable bodies 201a, 20lb turn, their tops may successively project above the top surface of the inclined plate 34. Since the sprocket wheel 18a, 18b can interlock with the sprocket wheels 15a, 15b and rotate together with the latter, it is possible to stop the cut wire forwarded from the cutting part 1 first by the wire-arresting bosses 20-23 and then successively engage the cut wire by the engaging bosses of the chain 30. To avoid the cut wire skipping th first engaging bosses 20-23 whenthe cut wire comes along at a relatively high speed, the height of bosses 20-23 are so set thatsaid bosses can successively project above the-top of the inclined plate 34 for every turning by a specified angle of said sprocket 18a, 18b. For this purpose it is desirable that the size and height of the arresting bosses 20-23 be greater than those of the wire-holding bosses 301-N on the chain 30.

In the direction toward the working stage 3 from the sprocket wheels 13a, 13b there are provided a verticalmovable plurality of sprocket wheels 360a, 360b, 361a, 361 b, 362a, 362b along the down slope of the inclined plate 34 in parallel in the specified spacing, respectively; and on the shaft of said sprocket wheels 360-362 are fitted respective ends of the so-called Nurenberg scissors 38. One end of said Nurenberg scissors 38 is attached to the shaft 360; of the sprocket 360a, 36Gb in such manner that the-sprocket 360a, 360b can be rotatable, the shaft 360;'is also attached to the truck 33 via supporting member 336 in such manner that the shaft 360' can be rotatable, while the other end of the Nurenberg scissor 38 is fitted at the point 363 close to the sprocket 6a, 6b. The sprocket wheel 360-362 are so situated as their peripheries are always in contact with the corresponding under surface of the sprocket wheel 360a, 360b is situated on the truck 33, the movement of the truck 33 on the guide rails is accompanied by the movement of said sprocket wheels 360-362 along the slope of said inclined plate 34. As the truck 33 comes closer to the sprockets 6a, 6b, the gaps between the sprocket wheels 360-361 and 361 362 are narrowed, thereby increasing the resistance of the Nurenberg scissors 38. On the contrary as the truck 33 goes away furtherfrom said sprockets 6a, 6b said gaps between the sprocket wheel 360361, 361-362 are widened, thereby decreasing the resistance of the Nurenberg scissors 38.

chain 30. Under this arrangement in which the Under, this arrangement, even in the case of chain 30 making an extremeexpansion or contraction due to the movement of the truck 33, the displacement can take place smoothly. In addition to said sprocket wheels 360, the truck 33 serves sprockets13a, 13b, 15a, 15b, 17a, 17b, 18a, 18b and rotatable bodies 201a, 20lb. The mounting of the truck with these rotatable bodies can be realized as follows: one of the ends of supports 335, 334, 336, are fitted respectively to the shafts of the rotatable bodies such that the corresponding shafts are able to rotate, while the ends of said supports are fixed to specified positions on the truck 33. The truck 33 can move along the guide rails 35 positioned outside of both lateral edges of chain 30. Saidguide rails 35 are fitted to the main body 37 at the same angle of inclination as the inclined plate 34. At a specified position on drive shaft 19 of the rotatable bodies 201a, 201b, one end of wire 32 so fitted as to permit rotation of shaft 19, while at the other end of said wire 32 is hung via the sprocket 31 a weight W Likewise, the weight W is hung from the shaft 28 via wire 29. The relationship between the weight W, and the weight W is set such that W W,; when, however, truck 33 is used as described above, the relationship is set such that W W, p. Qcos 0 QSin 0 where p. is the frictional coefficient and Q is the weight of the truck 33. The inclined plate 34 is installed on the outside of the chain 30, the top surface of said inclined plate 34 beinginclined at the belt 30 which runs parallel to said inclined plate 34 are formed such as to project above the top surface of said inclined plate 34. In FIGS. 2(a), (b), 331 denotes the wheel of the truck 33;332 is the axle. V

More than one set of such a chain and an inclined plate 34 are, as indicated in FIG. 5, laid out in parallel between, say, the wirecutting part 1 and the machining part 3.

Thereby the sprockets 6a, 6b, 27b, 13a, 13b in each chain are fitted to respective shafts 7, 28, 14; the idle sprocket 26a, 26b are fitted to the shaft 261; and the 18a, 18b, 17a, 17b, and 9 are respectively fitted to the shafts 19, 16 and 10. The sprocket wheels 360 and the point 363, that are ends of the Nurenberg scissors 38 are also fitted to the same shafts respectively. Under this arrangement, at the time when the device of this invention starts to operate, there is no wire 4l-4n engaged by the boss located along the inclined plate 34. In this case, instead of giving a signal from the machining part 3, that is, with the rotation of the sprockets 6a, 6b stopped, an instruction signal is manually issued from the cutting part 1.

Usually the cutting part 1 issues an instruction signal as follows: A long wire is sent to a conventional shear; the tip of said wire hits the stopper, thereby bringing the shear into action. In the course of cutting the wire into pieces, the shear comes into contact with the limit in the round body 36b the spring 362 exerts a force to revert said body 36b to the original position. Thereby the convex released from the corresponding concave fits into a next concave; thus, the rotatable round body 36a is turned just by an angle equivalent to the distance between said concaves and then it stops. Thereby the sprockets 13a, 13b are turned just by the number of degrees defined, an angle of 6.

In this case, since the relationship between the weight W and W and weight of the truck is set such that W W u Qcose 6 QsinO, and the truck 33 is positionedon the guide rail 35 laid at the same angle as the inclined plate 34, truck 33 will descend along the guide rail 35 for every 6 -angle intermittent rotation of the shaft 14, bringing the sprockets 13a, 13b to say, the position marked X and the chain 30 also to the position marked X; in that case, the distance between the periphery of sprocket 13a (13b) and that of sprocket- 6a( 6b) is set considering the contractility of the Nurenberg scissors 38 inserted between them. As described upon a signal from the cutting part 1 the shafts l9, 14

make a rotation according to' number of degrees time,

thereby the cut-wire sent from the cutting part 1 is,

caught successively by the bosses 306-30n.

In this case, if necessary, it may be rearranged such that the feeding of a cut .wire from the cutting part 1 may be somewhat delayed to assure'smooth engagement of the next cut wire by the next bosses, for instance 22 after the preceding cut wire which has been held by a boss 21 is delivered to the boss307 on the chain. Such arrangement will be facilitated by'. a conventional device applying a timer or the like.

While by giving at the same time or at a different time as the above-mentioned instruction from the cutting part, an instruction signal'to make an intermittent rotation of the sprocket 6a (61)) by the angle in the direction of B is issued manually, that is, as described later referring to FIG. 6, power supply to the shaft 10 is manthe rotatable body 11 turns by the angle corresponding When the wire is cut into pieces, the power supply to the shaft 14 is closed so that said shaft may be rotated in the reversed-A direction and at the same time an instruction signal is also given to supply power to the coil 362. Then the convexes 363-366' of the round body 36b which have been in the concaves 363-366 of the rotatable round body 36a in the clutch are removed from concaves; and the sprocketed 13a, 13b the sprocket wheels 18a, 18b and rotatable round body 360 the truck 33 moves along the inclined guide rails 35 upward over just the distance equivalent to said angle of 6; with it, the chain as a whole is displaced upward along the slope, and in consequence the bosses 305 emerge above the top surface of the inclined plate 34. Meanwhile, cut wires go down by their own'gravity along the inclined plate 34 and come to be arrested by bosses 20 projecting on the periphery of the rotatable bodies 201a, 201b Supposing that following the arrest of a cut wire by the boss 20, a next wire is produced from the cutting part 1. Then upon a signal from the cutting part 1, the shafts 14, 19 turn just by the specified angle in the reversed-A direction. The truck 33 goes up the guide rails just over a specified distance; and the boss 21 juts out above the top of the inclined plate 34. As the result the first cut wire. descends by its own gravity along the inclined plate 34 out of the boss 20 and gets arrested by the boss 306, while the next cut wire is engaged by the next boss 21. In this fashion,

to the distance between said switch dogs. This rotational movement is transmitted via sprocket wheel 9, pivoted to the shaft 10 and chain 13 to the sprocket wheels 8, thereby causing'the sprocket'6a, 6b to'tum in the arrow direction B by the angle 6. In this manner, bosses 30l-305 not engaging cut wire are shifted successively in the direction of the sprocket wheel 27a; thereby bosses 306-30n engaging cut wire 4l-4 n respectively come to the position. as illustrated in FIG. 6. v

Thereby depending on whether the manual rotation instruction for the sprocket 6a (6b-) in the direction of B comes at the same time or different time as the instruction from the cutting part, the sprocket 13a (13b) remains at the same position as before the instructions or it makes downward displacement over a distance determined by the intermittent rotation angle.

Next, the transmission of a cut wire to the machining.

part 3 upon a signal from the latter will be explained referring to FIG. 6. Various machining steps for wires are sponding to the distance between said switch dogs. This to turn in the arrow direction B just by. the angle 0. In-

rotational movement is transmitted via a sprocket wheel 9 pivoted to the shaft 10 and the chain 13 to the sprocket wheels 9, thereby causing the sprockets 6a, 6b

this manner, the cut wire 41 arrested by the boss 306 can be forwarded to the machining part 3. When in this case the shaft 14 is still-standing, the specified angle rotation of said sprocket 6a, 6b causesa force to act such rested at,.say, the position Y in FIG. 6, while the chain 30 is also stopped at the position Y. I n this state, as seen from FIG. 6, cut wire 42-4n, are respectively arrested by the bosses 307 -30n and the left extreme one 315 is waiting for a next cut wire to be forwarded from the cutting part 1. When the rotation order for the sprocket 13a, 13b comes from the cutting part 1 and the rotation order for the sprocket 6a, 6b comes from the machining part 3 at the same time, there will be no movement of the truck 33 because of the sprocket 13a, 13b and 6a, 6b being identical; and only the chain 30 will make a vertical movement, which causes the cut wire to be sent on to the machining part 3. Thus, even when the cutting part 1 is required to feed cut wire at a rate of N pieces per minute to the forwarding device 2 of the present invention and said forwarding device 2 is required to forward them at a rate of N pieces per minute to the machining part 3, a properly spaced forwarding of cut wires from said forwarding device tothe machining part 3 in accordance with the above requirements can be made by rotating said sprockets 6a, 6b and 13a, 13b at proper intervals individually in accordance with prescribed orders set for intermittent rotation.

In this case, if necessary, by providing the limit switches LS LS with a specified gap between them,

, for instance at specified position downward between of the truck 33, and by so arranging that the switch dog 7 337 is able to touch the switches LS and LS when it comes over these switch dogs, a drive source to the sprocket 13a, 13b may be off through contact between the switch dog 337 and LS and a drive source to the sprocket 6a, 6b may be off through contact between the switch dog 337 and LS Thus it will become possible to move the sprocket 13a, 13b always verticallybetween LS and LS andeven when the instructions from the cutting part 1 are by far more frequent than the instructions from the machining part 3 or vise versa, smooth forwarding of cut wire will be possible. Such an 1. Cut wires are forwarded by means of a stopper' arrangement will be easily realized by on a conventional electrical device.

Test Example:

A test example of the device according to the present invention is given below. A device as illustrated in FIG. 2(b) and FIG. 6 was used under the following conditions.

(1) Angle of inclination in the inclined plate 34 and the guide rails 10 5 (2) Weight of Weight W, kg (3) Weight of Weight W 20 kg (4) Diameter of sprocket 13a,l3b 130mm, Diameter of sprocket 6a, 6b (5) Shape and demensions of Conforming to the chain lntemational Standard 1.8 m long,9 mm wide (6) Weight of truck 33 25 kg with load (7) Pitch circle dia.

of sprocket 18a, 18b .45.81 mm (RS 35, Z 15) (8) Pitch circle dia. of

sprocket 13a, 13b and 6a. 6b 129.57 mm (RS 40, Z 32) (9) Pitch circle dia. of

sprocket 27a, 27b 81.18 mm (RS 40, 20 T) (10) Pitch circle dia. of

pws st 74 m (R5 4 .1

-Continued (1]) Pitch circle dia..ot

sprocket 15a. 15b Rotating angle of sprocket 13a, 13b

91.12 mm (RS 35. z 30) and 6a, 6b 45 Rotating angle of rotatable body 201a.

30l-30n more than 20 mm, they were so designed as to be able to project over the top surface of the inclined plate 34 at least by 20 mm In this device, the sprockets 13a, 13b and 6a, 6b were made to rotate intermittently at the same time or different times, thereby it has been confirmed that spaced forwarding of cut wire can take place with smoothness through specified angle rotation of these sprockets.

.The following are the merits to the cut wire forwardmechanism provided on its periphery with arresting bosses of the same action at specified intervals, followed by a mechanism consisting of more than one chain and an inclined plate 34. Thus even cut pieces of a long small-diameter wire without entanglement be automatically sent on one by one at specified intervals with a very high'efficiency as compared with the conventional method of forwarding cut pieces of such a long small-diameter wire. v

2. The relation between the weight W W and the weight of thetruck 33 being set such that W W .w atisdaitrsdisa--. a.

l. A spaced forwarding device for cut wires comprising a. chain means including a plurality of wire arresting bosses at predetermined intervals on the periphery of said chain;

b. inclined plate means, wherein said chain means has a first inclined portion following said inclined plate means and a second vertical portion; c. at least three rotatable wheel means: i

d. first weight means suspended from a first of said.

clined plate means whereby cut wires are engaged one by one by said arresting bosses and are moved down said inclined plate means due to the dependent or independent intermittent rotating of said wheel means. 2. The device of'claim 1 wherein said first rotatable wheel means is mounted on a movable truckmeans,

said truck means including holding means for holding 5 The device-of claim 2 further including an additional rotatable wheel means mounted on said truck means and interlocked with -said'first rotatable wheel means said additional wheel means including wire arresting bosses at specified intervals along the periphery thereof wherebycut wires are engaged by said arresting bosses on said additional wheel means and transferred to said arresting bosses on said chain'means.

6 The device of claim 1 wherein a third of said rotatable wheel means is positioned at the bottom of said inclined portion of said chain means said device further including a pair of Nurenberg scissor means positioned between said first and third rotatable wheel means for expanding and contracting along the slope of said inclined plate means.

7. The device of claim 1 further including at least three of said devices arranged parallel to each other wherein corresponding rotatablewheel means are mounted on a single shaft. 

1. A spaced forwarding device for cut wires comprising a. chain means including a plurality of wire arresting bosses at predetermined intervals on the periphery of said chain; b. inclined plate means, wherein said chain means has a first inclined portion following said inclined plate means and a second vertical portion; c. at least three rotatable wheel means: d. first weight means suspended from a first of said rotatable wheel means positioned at the top of the inclined portion of said chain means and second weight means suspended from a second of said rotatable wheel means positioned at the bottom of said vertical portion of said chain means, wherein said second weight is greater than said first weight and said wheel means can rotate intermittently and said first wheel means can be shifted along said inclined plate means whereby cut wires are engaged one by one by said arresting bosses and are moved down said inclined plate means due to the dependent or independent intermittent rotating of said wheel means.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein said first rotatable wheel means is mounted on a movable truck means, said truck means including holding means for holding said first rotatable wheel means immovable.
 3. The device of claim 2 wherein said truck means moves along guide rails said guide rails being inclined at the angle of said inclined plate means.
 4. The device of claim 3 wherein said second weight means is greater than said first weight means + Mu Qcos theta + Q Sin theta where Mu coefficient of friction between said truck means and said rails, theta angle of inclination of said rails, and Q the weight of said truck means.
 5. The device of claim 2 further including an additional rotatable wheel means mounted on said truck means and interlocked with said first rotatable wheel means said adDitional wheel means including wire arresting bosses at specified intervals along the periphery thereof whereby cut wires are engaged by said arresting bosses on said additional wheel means and transferred to said arresting bosses on said chain means.
 6. The device of claim 1 wherein a third of said rotatable wheel means is positioned at the bottom of said inclined portion of said chain means said device further including a pair of Nurenberg scissor means positioned between said first and third rotatable wheel means for expanding and contracting along the slope of said inclined plate means.
 7. The device of claim 1 further including at least three of said devices arranged parallel to each other wherein corresponding rotatable wheel means are mounted on a single shaft. 